Brown Betty

This Brown Betty is a delightful, warming apple pudding and easy to make. The combined taste of the cloves, apple, treacle and sherry is hard to beat and they combine to make a smell make that's heavenly. It’s a dish that can be eaten hot or cold, my preference is for hot, but it’s unlikely I’d turn down a helping of it cold - the flavours seem to grow that longer it's kept.

In our house this was a standard Sunday pudding, my father developed a liking for it cold, cooked in a charlotte tin and turned out, which seems like an unecessary complication. With lots of cream. You could liken it to an Apple Charlotte, a deconstructed one that tastes much better. Unlike a Charlotte that uses melted butter brushed into place, the dobs of butter sit alongside the morsels of apple and make their own way through the crumbs while it cooks. You might imagine, reading the recipe, that it might seem to be a bit dry: it isn’t.

When I was trying to remember the recipe I read quite a lot of American versions, which aren't the same and seem more complicated. I found a reference to 'old fashioned Brown Betty' in a Pan Dowdy recipe, and perhaps our family version takes its molasses (black treacle) from there. You can see that here, and I'll include the version that my father wrote, although I never saw him make it… I've written it out the way I remember making it with my mother.

The quantities are a guide - you’ll probably manage to get everything in the dish. Give it a go. And use Bramley apples if you can.

Dad's write up

Brown Betty Recipe

Ingredients

2lb/scant 1kg apples

1/2lb/250g fresh breadcrumbs

¼ kb/125g unsalted butter

Brown sugar - more than a cupful

Black treacle - about two tablespoons

½ mug/1 wine glass sherry

Several pinches of ground cloves

Pinch Cinnamon 

Method

Set the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3/325F

Use a deep pie dish

• Peel and core the apple and cut it into bit sized piece

• Generously butter around a deep pie dish

• Scatter a layer of breadcrumbs, then some apple pieces, pinches of butter alongside dustings of cloves and some cinnamon, sprinkle over with sugar and repeat until you’ve used up all the apple - then add one last layer of breadcrumbs

• Drizzle the treacle over in a random way - if you warm the spoon in boiling water and then dry it the treacle will flow more easily

• Pour the sherry over, covering as much as possible 

• Bake for around an hour, or until the apple is completely cooked (test with a skewer)

The cooked dish has a lovely crust - eat with cream, yoghurt, ice cream, or on its own.

pan dowdy

Apple Pan Dowdy
[A TASTING-TEST KITCHEN ENDORSED RECIPE]

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 quarts sliced apples
1/2 cup dark molasses
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water

Line a casserole with pie crust. Mix sugar, spices, and salt and sprinkle over apples. Fill casserole, add molasses, butter, and water. Cover with punctured pie crust, tuck edges together, press to sides of casserole. Bake in moderately hot oven (425°) 45 minutes, decrease temperature to 325°. When crust has browned slightly and apples are tender, remove from oven.

Take a silver knife, chop up mixture, being sure that the pie crust is thoroughly mixed with apples. If dry or not sufficiently sweetened, add more water and molasses. Return to oven and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325°. Serves 10.

When finished, the pudding will look very much like Old-fashioned Brown Betty. I was told that New Englanders served Apple Pan Dowdy hot with butter. The pudding can be warmed over, in fact it is even more delicious on the second or third day if you can keep it that long.

dutch apple tart

Lovely biscuity pastry, and luscious cinnamon flavoured apples give your mouth and nose a treat - this tart also looks fantastic, and is pretty easy to make.

Ingredients

Pastry

1 egg

2 cups/250g self-rising flour

2/3 cup/150g butter chopped up small

½ cup/90g brown sugar

A pinch of salt

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Filling

Two handfuls/150g of sultanas

1 tbsp brandy or other alcohol (use juice or water if you prefer)

2 lb/850g tart apples

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Heaped tablespoon brown sugar (50 g)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tbsp corn flour

Equipment

Loose based or springform tin, 20cm/8”

Two good sized bowls

Method

• Soak the sultanas in the liquid of your choice for at least an hour – or heat in pan or microwave to speed things up, set aside.
• Set oven to 180C/350F
• Butter sides of the tin generously, and line the base with baking parchment. If you don’t have baking parchment butter the base and flour it, shaking out the excess
• Put the flour into a large bowl, with the chopped butter, lemon zest and brown sugar
• Whisk the egg, hold back about a tablespoon, and add the rest to the flour and butter
• Knead dough, using a stand mixer with a dough attachment, or use your hands, until the dough comes together into a ball. Set aside for 20 minutes, while you peel and prepare the apples.
• Peel and core the apples, cut them into pieces (about 1.5cm square, no need for precision)
• In another bowl mix with the sultanas, lemon juice, the remaining 1/3 cup brown sugar, and spices
• Sprinkle the corn flour over and stir to cover the apples with spices and sugar and mix in the sultanas
• Use 3/4 of the dough to cover the bottom and sides of the dish, you can roll it out on a well floured board, or flatten it out and press the dough into place, nudging it along
• Add the apple mixture to the pie dish and firmly press down
• Use the rest of the dough to make the lattice topping, dividing it into five bits, rolling each one into a ‘snake’ and flattening it. Three strips one way and two the other, pressing them into the sides and trimming them so nothing hangs over the edge
• Brush the lattice pastry with the egg and bake for around an hour, until the apples are tender

Serves 8

I use Bramleys if possible, and serve the pie cold. Eat with cream or ice cream, or on its own.

                                     

more pictures - dutch apple tart

Better pictures of the delicious dutch applie pie, buttery and biscuity crust with cinnamon apple. Yum.

Classic carrot cake

The Australian Women's Weekly recipe for carrot cake is easy to make and not as sweet as some - don't worry it is still nice and sweet. The recipe calls for 2 tsp of mixed spice, but I like to add an extra tsp of cinnamon, which makes it really punchy. See what you think - this recipe is a repeater.

I'll find the pictures of my first effort - I used two sandwich tins and put some icing inside as well as out, because I am greedy. I use the citrus fudge icing.

I tried it with sunflower seeds, because I didn't have any walnuts and it was not good, by the way.

'icing just right this time mum'

Carrot cake

Preparation and cooking time – 1hour 35 minutes

1 cup / 250 ml vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups / 250 g firmly packed brown sugar

3 cups / 220 g firmly packed, coarsely grated carrot (about 6 medium carrots)

1 cup / 120 g coarsely chopped walnuts
3 eggs

2 ½ / 375 g self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 160 C

I used two 23cm tins and bake for 40 mins

• Grease deep 23 cm round cake tin, lining base with baking parchment
• Put carrot and nuts in large bowl,  and sift flour, bicarb and spices together, keep to one side
• Beat oil, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy. Transfer mixture to large bowl with carrot and nuts, stirring, adding flour mixing well
• Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake cake for about 1 ¼ hours, covering loosely with foil or parchment halfway through cooking, to prevent it browning too much on top
• Stand cake for five minutes before turning it onto a rack to cool

If you can stand it, this cake is better if left for a day to mature.

Horchata - from Chow

spotted this on the Chow website, I haven't tried it yet but I will, especially for my dairy free friends. It's still got sugar... but looks tasty. With rum it might be fatal.

Horchata

By Amy Wisniewski
A common drink found alongside aquas frescas in Mexican taquerias, horchata is a milky-looking, yet dairy-free, libation. Made with ground-up rice, toasted almonds, a bit of cinnamon, and some lime, it’s a perfect summertime refreshment and is even tastier when spiked.


Game plan: Start this recipe a day ahead, as the ground ingredients need to soak overnight.
TIME/SERVINGS
Total Time: 10 mins, plus soaking time
Makes: 4 to 6 drinks (1 quart)

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups long-grain white rice
2 (1/2-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 cup blanched, sliced almonds, toasted and cooled
4 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 (2-inch-long) lime zest strip, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice


INSTRUCTIONS

Pulverize the rice and cinnamon in a spice grinder in batches until the mixture resembles a fine powder. Place in a 2-quart container with a tightfitting lid. Next, pulverize the almonds in the spice grinder until finely ground but not a paste. Add the almond powder to the rice-cinnamon mixture, pour in the water, and stir to combine. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours.

Add the sugar and zest to the mixture and, using a blender, blend in batches on high until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer placed over a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, press on the solids to extract all of the liquid, then discard the solids.

Stir the lime juice into the horchata, then transfer the beverage to a pitcher and chill in the refrigerator. Serve over ice.

Worth a go?